Champ Trail - October 3, 2017

  In NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour Series racing at the Stafford Motor Speedway Ryan Preece scored his 15th career pole as he bested the 27 cars on hand for the Fall Final. Preece toured the half mile oval in 18.513 seconds. Doug Coby was second fastest with an 18.520 sec run with Ron Silk at 18.536.
  Prior to the start of the festivities the Stafford Motor Speedway and the Arute family officially retired Ted Christopher’s No. 13. A moving jesture to say the least.
  Eric Goodale established himself as a legitimate member of the Long Island gang as he won the Fall Final at Stafford last Sunday. Coming from the 18th position, Goodale knew it would take a stout car for him to travel to the front in Sunday's NAPA Fall Final 150. When it came down to the final laps, Goodale had the car he needed to get the job done. The Riverhead, New York, driver scored his third career NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour win by passing Ryan Preece with just three laps remaining. The victory was his first at the half-mile oval.
  "Stafford is one of those places that you dream of winning at when you're a little kid," Goodale said. "I came up here and watched races when I was a kid. To be here and finally win a race, we have so many races under our belt here and we have come close here so many times. It feels good to finally seal the deal."
  Goodale's run to the front of the field after his qualifying effort was not an easy one. He maneuvered his way to the front and was working the back bumper of Preece for the race lead in lapped traffic when a caution at Lap 111 set up the final pit stops of the day. Goodale's team went to work to help get him out at the front.
  He took the lead from Lap 120-125, but then lost it and had to follow Preece in the final circuits. A late move to the bottom of Turn Four got him the lead with just three laps to g and he never looked back.
  Goodale beat Preece to the line by 0.389 seconds. Preece came up one spot short of sweeping the 2017 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour races at Stafford. He led a race-high 115 laps. Ron Silk finished third, while Chase Dowling and Timmy Solomito rounded out the top five.
  Justin Bonsignore was sixth, followed by Doug Coby, Bobby Santos, Craig Lutz and Kyle Bonsignore.
  Thirteen cars finished on the lead lap as a near full house crowd looked on.
  With just one race left on the schedule, four-time champion Coby has a 10 point lead over Justin Bonsingore in the championship standings. Solomito is third, 12 markers back, while Preece is fourth, 19 back from the lead.
  The NAPA Fall Final 150 will air on NBCSN on Saturday Oct. 7 at 10 a.m.
  The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour will return to the track on Sunday Oct. 15 at Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park, where the 2017 champion will be crowned.

  In other racing at Stafford on the weekend, Taking down feature wins were Keith Rocco in the SK Modified® feature and Tyler Leary in the Late Model feature. Rocco’s victory clinched the 2017 SK Modified® track championship while Glen Reen became the Late Model champion with a 5th place finish in the Late Model feature. For Rocco it was win No.45 at Stafford which brought his lifetime career total to 249. It was his third SK Modified championship at the track.
  Rocco led Chase Dowling to the checkered flag to pick up his second consecutive win of the 2017 season. Todd Owen finished third with Matt Galko and Dave Gervais rounding out the top-5.
  There were also feature events for its SK Light, Limited Late Model, and DARE Stock divisions, as well as a feature event for the Mr. Rooter Truck Series as part of the Saturday NAPA Auto Parts Fall Final Weekend festivities. Taking feature wins were Marcello Rufrano in the SK Light feature, Cliff Saunders in the Limited Late Model feature, Johnny Walker in the DARE Stock feature, and Gerald Giordano, Jr. in the Mr. Rooter Truck Series feature.
  Heavy rain washed out all racing last Saturday night at the New London-Waterford Speedbowl. Next Saturday, October 7th, is the final regular season race. All Saturday night regular divisions will be running with an on track pit party which will follow the heat races.
  Out on the east end of Long Island at the Riverhead Raceway, Tom Rogers Jr was the 40 lap NASCAR Modified winner. He also sewed up the track championship.

  The 67th annual Race of Champions weekend took place this past weekend at the Lake Erie Speedway in North East, Pennsylvania as part of Presque Isle Downs & Casino Race of Champions Weekend. The race, which was advertised to pay $12,500 to the winner, was been changed to pay $13,013.13-to-win in honor of Ted Christopher, who suddenly passed away recently, with 26 starting position paying $1,000-to-start.
  Matt Hirschman made it three straight Race of Champions victories at three different tracks. Hirschman tied Dutch Hoag with his fifth career RoC event win. Mike Leaty finished second and was followed by Austin Kochenash, Eric Beers and Daren Scherer. Chris Pasteryak, the lone New Englander in the event finished eighth.

On the speedway stock market scene last week, two of the three speedway stocks showed modest gains while Dover Entertainment flat lined at 2.05. Speedway Motorsports went up 0.77 to 21.30 and the International Speedway Corporation went up 0.45 to 36.00. NASCAR cup sponsor Monster Beverage dropped 0.56 to 55.25 and NASCAR fuel supplier Sunoco (Energy Transfer) dropped 0.20 to 18.29 while NASCAR tire supplier Goodyear went up 0.68 to 33.25. Two of the three auto makers were up for the week. Toyota dropped 1.46 to 119.17 while Ford went up 0.13 to 11.97 and General Motors went up 0.96 to 40.88. In the home improvement sector, Home Depot went up 3.59 to 163.56 and Lowes went up 1.71 to 79.94. The big team sponsors stocks were all positive. McDonalds went up 0.77 to 156.68, Coca-Cola went up 6.40 to 215.75, Target Department Stores went up 0.02 to 59.01, Aarons Rentals went up 4.60 to 43.63 and Fedex went up 5.58 to 225.58.

  On the tube this week:

  Friday, October 6
1:30 PM, Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Charlotte practice, NBC Sports Net
3:00 PM, NASCAR Xfinity Series Charlotte practice, NBCSN
6:00 PM, NXS Charlotte final practice, NBCSN
7:00 PM, MENCS Charlotte qualifying, NBCSN

  Saturday, October 7
10:00 AM, NASCAR Whelen Modifieds Stafford Fall Final NBC Sports Net
11:00 AM, MENCS Charlotte practice, NBCSN
12:00 PM, NXS Charlotte qualifying, NBCSN
1:00 PM, NASCAR America, NBCSN
1:30 PM, MENCS Charlotte final practice, NBCSN
3:00 PM, NXS Charlotte race, NBCSN
5:30 PM, NXS Post Race, NBCSN

  Sunday, October 8
11:00 AM, NASCAR The Decades - 1980s, NBCSN
12:00 PM, NASCAR America, NBCSN
2:00 PM, MENCS Charlotte race, NBC
6:00 PM, MENCS Post Race, NBCSN
6:30 PM, NASCAR Victory Lap, NBCSN

  Monday, October 9
2:30 PM, NASCAR 120: MENCS Charlotte race, NBCSN

   That’s about it for this week from 11 Gardner Drive, Westerly, and R.I.02891. Ring my chimes at 401-596-5467.
E-mail: smithpe_97_97@yahoo.com.

Phil Smith has been a columnist for Speedway Scene and various
other publications for over 3 decades.
 

Source: Phil Smith / Champ Trail
Posted: October 3, 2017